Rock is gained from the earth for crushing by exploding or excavating. Rock can also be natural and gravel or construction waste. Mobile processing apparatuses (for example, crushing apparatuses) and stationary crushing applications are used in material processing (for example, crushing). An excavator or wheeled loader, for example, loads the material to be processed into the crusher's feed hopper from where the material to be processed ends up in a feeder which feeds the rock material, for example, in a jaw of a crusher or the feeder moves the rock material towards the crusher. A desired material, for example, fine material can be directed through the feeder to a side conveyor that this material does not result in further processing, for example, crushing. A usual location of the side conveyor is under the feeder where selected material can drop. Material directed past the further process is conveyed aside the processing apparatus by means of the side conveyor, for example, in a pile.
In movable crushing apparatuses, for example, the side conveyor forms during transportation an obstacle which broadens the crushing apparatus and which has to be located, at least in road traffic, in a narrower space than an operating position of the side conveyor. Usually, the side conveyor is folded at a side of the machine for the time of the transportation, for example, hydraulically upwards in a vertical position. The conveyor is then, for example, of a model which is foldable at a region of a conveyor belt. Another option is to transport the side conveyor loosely.
When a discharge direction of the side conveyor is desired to be changed to another side of a machine the side conveyor is released completely from fixing points, for example, by opening and fixing a bolt attachment of the side conveyor. Hydraulic hoses are detached, the side conveyor is lifted away from an opening in a side plate of the machine, transported to the other side of the machine and mounted again. An alternative in machines of today is that a sidedness of the side conveyor is not changeable.
Hydraulic cylinders and joints are used in a structure of the side conveyor which is foldable at the side the crushing apparatus which enable locating the side conveyor at a side of the crushing apparatus. This structure is complicated, expensive and fault-sensitive. Both the transportation of the side conveyor loosely and the changing of the side are time consuming. A lifting device and sufficiently lifting aid has to be on the scene. Lifting work is a safety risk and requires several operators. Hydraulic hoses and electric cables must also be detached both when transported separately and when the side is changed which causes safety risks to personnel and environment.
An object of the invention is to provide a movable processing apparatus for mineral material in connection with which problems related to known side conveyors can be avoided or at least reduced.